For You
by kitsuneshadow47
Summary: After losing his brother to an accident, Sasuke's world changes forever. He's sent to the asylum to recuperate but after a year, nothing's changed. An unbreakable glass blocks all hope, but what happens when he meets someone to share his sadness with? SxN


**For You**

**Characters~ **Sasuke U. & Naruto U.

**Warnings~ **Shounen-ai, boys' love, fluff, oneshot, chibi SasuNaruSasu, traumatic pasts, the asylum, a glass wall that's hard to break, and drawing. ^^":

**Disclaimer~ **I do _not _own Naruto—that's _Sasuke's _job, people. XDDD

**Music on My Mind~ **Draw with Me—Daniel James (from **Mike Inel's **vid—also don't own)

**Notes from the KIT-chan~**

If you know what **Draw with Me **is, I don't own any of it. The theme's only the same, but I absolutely didn't copy the story like an idiot and just replace pink neko and blue fox guy with S and N for the hell of it. :P

The idea of the glass wall may be quite similar, but for the most part, the story itself is its own. ~wO

Enjoy~ ;D

.::.*~Kitsune Shadow~*.::.

~o~

_Love has no boundaries._

~xXx~

It was a fall afternoon when it happened—the day everything had changed.

Brother and I were just coming back from the park, after a long day of hide-and-seek and tag among the tall trees that had surrounded us then with their bright green leaves and long branches.

The only thing that had been different about that day was that no one else was there with us, since it had been raining really hard outside. Usually Itachi would often take advantage of this solitude while our parents were away at work, giving us more time to play on our own.

Although at this point, the two of us were drenched to the bone, and I was shivering of the cold, whistling wind.

In an instant, Brother had wrapped his arms around my shoulders and held me close as we walked down the long and winding path—giving me his jacket so I wouldn't be as cold. Then finally after a while, we'd both stopped under a tree to sit on a bench, my head resting on my big brother's chest.

I cringed for a minute, then burrowed further under his warm arms, the hood of his grey jacket covering my wet hair.

At that moment, I'd heard Itachi chuckle softly, shuffling towards me to hold me even closer, and smiled.

"Did you have fun today, baby brother?"

In that instant, I wriggled slightly to raise my head up and nodded once, beaming at him. "Yeah."

After that, he'd grinned back, and we'd turned to gaze over at the empty street before us, puddles scattered and raindrops falling everywhere, making it a bit hard to see in the distance.

Right then...you would have asked again why two kids like us would be doing wandering off on our own in bad weather like this.

But at this point, I'll tell you that there had been only one reason that Itachi had dragged me out of the house to get me to dance with him under the pouring storm that time:

It had been my birthday, and nothing had changed that. Not even my parents' neglect...or the cold that I now realize I could have gotten from this.

However, both had—or would have been, had I known any sooner—only the least of my worries I had yet to face.

Later when the rain had abated down a little, a black Camry had stopped on the curb nearby, more or less a few feet away from us then.

~X~

From that point forward, everything had become a huge blur to Sasuke.

The psychopath that had stepped out of the car...

The deranged, malevolent twinkle that he'd seen in his very pupils, deep with madness...

...and being forced into the back seat of his car, clawing helplessly to break free from the man's painful, choking grasp.

"Get _in!_"

Before long, both Itachi and his brother had found themselves trapped in the prison of that lunatic's car like two birds in a cage, as he sped headlong into the local street at a hundred miles per hour.

At that moment, Sasuke shuddered, timidly glancing over to see a creepy, insane smile form on the driver's face. But then he felt Itachi put his hand on his and turned to look back at him with fearful eyes.

"Brother...I'm scared."

"SHUT UP, YOU BRAT!" the madman screamed abruptly, reaching over to throw a pocket umbrella at the youngest raven.

In that instant, Sasuke had winced, squeezing his older brother's hand at that point.

At that moment, Itachi shot the driver a fierce look, then shifted his eyes down to comfortingly rub his thumb over the other's wrist.

"Shh...Sasuke...it'll be fine," he'd murmured softly in a warm voice.

The younger Uchiha had swallowed hard before meeting his sibling's reassuring gaze with an apprehensive expression.

At that, Itachi held his hand gingerly in his palm and smiled. "Just don't let go of my hand."

The other's reaction had been blank. "'Tachi..."

_Clunk!_

Almost immediately, the two had jumped in their seats and quickly looked out their windows to see that they were in the middle of nowhere. But as they turned their heads to gaze out in front of them...

Sasuke had let out a small gasp, shrinking back in his seat.

They were speeding even faster towards a wooden dock, a great lake stretching out of its boundaries.

And the madman had yet to stop, that deranged smile growing bigger and bigger as they neared the vast waters in the distance.

In that instant, Itachi tightened his grip on his younger brother's hand, while the other had closed his eyes before the car had finally broke the surface.

_SPLASH._

~X~

At that point, the Camry was sinking deeper and deeper as the seconds passed, and both Uchiha brothers had been frantic to get out of the car.

The lunatic who'd kidnapped them had been long dead by then, his bleeding face smashed into the steering wheel itself.

"Brother!" Sasuke cried fearfully as he'd begun to see darker waters engulf them.

At that moment, Itachi's face had become rigid, and immediately he'd yanked his seatbelt off to fumble with the door handles, anxiously pushing on each in the hopes of getting at least one door open to escape.

But it had been no use, for it wasn't enough for Itachi alone to try opening the car doors beside them. He'd needed another's help...

In that instant, he glanced over his shoulder to look thoughtfully at his younger brother, then nodded once and signalled him over, taking his hand into his once more.

"When I say go," the older raven exhaled sharply, carefully gazing into Sasuke's timid eyes. "You'll push on this door with me so it'll open for us to escape through."

At that moment, the latter had nodded once, then turned towards the car door and gulped as the depths grew even darker. "But the water..."

Itachi gave his hand another squeeze, then looked into his eyes again and smiled. "Don't worry. You'll get out of here—I promise."

"Itachi..." the raven murmured softly.

But before long, he had already turned to face the window with a cautious expression on his face and gripped the door handle tightly in his fist.

"Ready, Sasuke?"

In that instant, the younger one had lowered his eyes, then nodded once in agreement.

"All right!" Itachi had cried, intently gazing out at the dark waters of the lake. "On the count of three!"

Sasuke bit his lip, placing his hands firmly on the door.

"One...two...three! _GO!_" he'd shouted.

Immediately, the younger raven had pushed on the door with all his might and soon, they'd both heard a click as it had swung open in an instant, hurtling Sasuke out through the threshold but causing waves of water to pour into the back seat at the same time, forcing the two brothers to let go of their hands as the door had slammed shut once more.

_Brother! _Sasuke had cried anxiously in his head, frantically swimming back to the car to grab the door's handle.

But it had been no use—the door wouldn't open anymore, and his older sibling was nowhere to be seen at that point.

In that instant, the raven began to panic as the black Camry sank even deeper, taking Itachi along with it.

_No! _he'd thought in his head, both hysterical and helpless. _No, no, no, no!_

He slammed his fist on the door in frustration and closed his eyes, clenching his teeth. _No..._

But that hadn't been until a figure had surfaced from the back of the car, and Sasuke had noticed a pale hand press up against the other side of the glass window, Itachi's face following right after it.

At that point, both were fearful of what was happening to them, but of all occasions, no matter how grim things had gotten, Itachi had brought himself to smile at his sibling in spite of everything but fate itself.

At that moment, Sasuke's eyes had widened, gazing sadly at his older brother through the thick glass. He was quickly losing air as time passed, and the other had known that as well.

But still his eyes had softened at the smaller raven on the other side of the window, darting over in the direction of his hand pressed up against it. In less than a second, Sasuke had persistently put his hand over the other's palm, his consciousness beginning to fade at the same time.

Any other attempt would have been futile, for the car had already sunken too much then.

Sasuke winced and choked slightly on the water as he'd begun to gasp for air. But right before he'd finally passed out, he'd noticed Itachi press his hand harder against the glass and grin, mouthing out words not even the little raven could understand at that point.

Then he had slowly slipped into darkness, letting go of the handle as his body grew limp and the black Camry had eventually disappeared in the murky depths below.

~X~

They'd found him unconscious in the water moments before finding the madman's car immobile at the very bottom of the lake.

He'd woken up startled to find himself in a hospital bed and had frantically lost himself searching for his older brother.

But the nurses had refused to tell him anything, his mother soon emerging from the back of the room to take him into a warm embrace and sobbed as she had put his head against her bosom.

"Mom..." he'd murmured softly.

At that same time, Sasuke had noticed his father sitting outside of his room, his face buried in his palms.

"...where's Itachi?" the raven had asked in a half-afraid tone.

All had been deathly quiet then.

~X~

That day after the funeral, Sasuke had done nothing but stand vigilantly in front of his brother's tombstone, bitter tears streaming down his cheeks as it rained down on him as hard as it did before.

Only this time he'd found himself more than just drenched, considering the fact that he'd been standing there for over an hour.

And it hadn't been long before Mikoto had finally come over to approach her son, umbrella in hand.

"Sasuke—time to go home."

But there had been no response. In addition to that, he hadn't moved a muscle no matter how many times his mother had called him.

Soon, it had come to a point where she had reached over to grab his shoulder, Sasuke immediately jerking her hand off.

At that moment, Mikoto's expression had grown stern. "Sasuke."

She had been about to grab the latter's hand and yank him away from Itachi's grave, but she had stopped almost abruptly when she'd seen his shoulders heave with a stifled sob.

In that instant, Mikoto's eyes had softened before she'd moved closer to meet her youngest son's gaze.

"...honey?" she spoke in a concerned, reassuring tone. "Is everything all right—"

Immediately, Mrs. Uchiha had stiffened in shock upon seeing the emotional instability that had appeared in her son's expression: the dark shadows under his two bloodshot eyes...and the way his hands were trembling violently. As soon as Sasuke brought himself to look into his mother's eyes with _that _look on his face...nothing had ever been the same again.

Ever since that day, things had only gotten worse for the poor raven.

For one thing as time had passed, he'd gradually developed a serious pathological fear of glass—mainly _windows _for the most part_._ Whenever he'd be in close contact with it, he'd begin to freak out and kick and scream for his older brother. In addition to that, he'd often undergo mood swings every now and then when his parents were around, mostly consisting of anger, sadness, and frustration, which worried both Mikoto and Fugaku after a long while of these occurrences.

It hadn't been until one morning after a severe temper tantrum from the young Uchiha, when the two of them had decided to take their remaining son on a visit to the psychiatrist, who'd registered him to be temporarily placed into an asylum for therapeutic treatment on the serious mental ailment that he'd diagnosed for the boy.

~X~

When they'd brought Sasuke inside, the doctors had immediately put him in a separate room, isolated from the rest of the patients they were treating.

A special room, indeed—with absolutely nothing but a thick glass wall splitting it in half and observation windows on both sides for the doctors' use.

Almost immediately when the raven had noticed the glass barrier, he'd gone berserk and tried to escape, vigorously struggling and screaming under the doctors' grasp and desperately clawing his way back to the door to rejoin his mother and father.

But instantaneously, they'd locked the door shut as soon as they'd gotten the chance, leaving Sasuke to fend for himself in his own personally sick, sugar-coated version of solitary confinement.

~X~

It had been a bit more than just a few hours before the young Uchiha had finally settled down and now sat quietly at the far corner of the room with his legs curled up and face impassive as he listened nonchalantly to the discussion the doctors were having with his parents at that moment—how this had been considered the best treatment for him to overcome his fear of glass and be cured of his infirmity soon enough.

"How long will you keep him in there?" Mikoto asked worriedly, half-leaning on Fugaku for support. "When can we take him home again?"

In that instant, the doctor speaking to them took off his glasses and lowered his eyes briefly before facing them with a solemn expression.

"I'm terribly sorry, Mr. and Mrs. Uchiha—but it'll be quite a while before Sasuke will be able to return to his normal life, for I'm afraid that his condition is a lot worse than we had expected from the very beginning."

At that moment, Sasuke's breath had hitched, and he'd reluctantly looked up to see his mother in tears, his father massaging her right shoulder reassuringly.

Then after a while, he'd watched the two of them leave, taking one last glance at him before doing so, their eyes filled with melancholy and hope.

At the same time, his expression had grown sad as well—even after they'd finally disappeared from sight, leaving him by himself.

~X~

Later on that night when the doctors were all gone, he'd brought himself on his feet, cautiously approaching the glass wall in front of him before hesitantly reaching his arm out to try and touch its cold surface without flinching even once.

But it had been pointless, for right when his hand was just half an inch away from the wall, he'd suddenly seen the face of his brother and immediately shrank back, falling to the floor.

At that moment, Sasuke had frowned despondently, raising his hand up to look at it before shifting his gaze towards the glass barrier again.

Then he closed his eyes and let out a small sigh. _It's no use...nothing will ever change._

~xXx~

_(One Year Later)_

That morning, the doctors were crowded around the raven's room, watching anxiously as he continued to sit quietly in the same corner as before.

"_He still isn't better?"_ one of them murmured in surprise.

"_It's been a year now, actually..."_ another replied.

"_It doesn't seem good to see him become so introverted and mute like this," _someone added.

"_I feel bad for him,"_ the doctor next to him replied desolately. _"We've kept the boy cooped up like this for too long now...it isn't healthy anymore."_

At that moment, Sakura Haruno listened to the rest of them continue to discuss the matter behind her back as she watched the poor Uchiha sulk expressionlessly in the shadows of the room with his legs curled up on his chest.

For a year now, she'd been working at this hospital as a full-time nurse with the big responsibility of giving this child his basic needs of food, water, and medicine, taking his temperature when she needed to. And for some time, she'd also developed a small attachment to the boy, wincing as he leaned down to press his forehead against his knees...

Indeed, the doctor behind her was right when he'd mentioned how unhealthy it was to keep poor Sasuke imprisoned like this in such a small room...but there was nothing she could do about it now, considering how she didn't have any authority over this whatsoever.

The pink-haired woman closed her eyes and hung her head, letting out a sad sigh.

But that hadn't been until hurried footsteps could be heard from the other side of the hallway, and soon they'd all turned to see another dark-haired nurse with grey eyes rushing towards the head doctor.

In that instant, he'd gotten up from his seat to meet Hinata's timid gaze and spoke in a nonchalant tone. "What can I help you with?"

Immediately, the Hyuga had paused for a moment to catch her breath, then whispered briskly into the doctor's ear, telling him the recent news she'd just received—of the arrival of a new patient with yet another quite unusual case...

At that moment, a commotion had risen among the crowd of doctors before her, and Hinata had flinched back slightly as soon as they'd started talking.

"_You don't say! _Another _one?"_

"_This just keeps getting better and better..."_

"_What'll we do about this one now? We've already got _him _to worry about..."_

Before long, the lead doctor proceeded to hush them all as Hinata continued to whisper him the rest of the details. But his face was solemn by the time he'd sent her away with a reply, turning to look over through the window at the young Uchiha sitting quietly by himself in the far corner of the room.

"Are you sure about this?" his subordinate asked worriedly, exchanging glances at both his boss and Sasuke. "Is it really the best decision to put him in the same room as...?"

In that instant, the chief doctor abruptly raised his hand up to silence him, closing his eyes and exhaling sharply.

"It is the only choice I can make for either of them right now. What shall be done for them will be done," he responded in a serious, unwavering tone. "Besides..." He sighed.

"He might just be the one to finally cure him of this terrible ailment once and for all."

~o~

_It's raining again, _Sasuke thought to himself as he raised his head to glance out the window behind him.

The room was dimly lit at that point, empty as it usually was except for the glass wall that stood in front of him and the smooth, grey tiles below that made up the floor he was sitting on.

At the same time, a chill had run up the latter's spine as another raindrop had fell onto the wet surface of the window, making him remember.

_Just like before..._

The raven frowned, staring back down at the floor with a stoic expression on his face.

After a while, the door had opened, and he'd raised his head again to see Nurse Sakura stepping into the room with a tray of food in her hands, calmly laying it down in front of him with a small smile on her face.

At that moment, Sasuke's face was blank, but he had still gratefully taken the tray, moving it closer beside him. Then when she had been about to leave, he'd brought himself to open his mouth and spoke in a cool, detached tone.

"Are they finally letting me out of here?" he'd asked, raising his gaze to look at the pink-haired woman.

In that instant, Sakura had stiffened, timidly glancing over her shoulder to face the raven with a hesitant look on her face. For a minute, she couldn't think of what to say for a response to the latter's question. But somehow, after a few seconds, she'd finally brought herself to speak in a hushed, reluctant voice.

"No...I'm sorry."

With that, she'd paused briefly in front of the Uchiha before letting out a small sigh and leaving "the glass room," as they'd called it.

As soon as she was gone, Sasuke pushed his tray away and curled up his legs again.

~o~

Later on that evening, he'd listened to a group of nurses out in the hallway whispering gossip about a new patient that'd just arrived in the hospital no longer than about an hour ago—how he was going to be "quite a handful" or something that had been along those lines.

But to the young raven, this information had been merely trivial to him, and so he went on to slightly adjust himself in a comfortable enough position for bed.

~o~

That night though, Sasuke couldn't sleep at all and had awoken oddly enough in a cold sweat to hear shrill screams and shrieks that had seemed to be coming from the other end of the hallway.

At first, the raven had almost thought the noises had been part of his dream, illusions or hallucinations created by dreadful nightmares combined together—but later on, when he had just barely closed his eyes, he'd soon realized in seconds that they were indeed _real._

_New arrival, huh?_

At that moment, the Uchiha frowned and let out an exasperated sigh before flipping over on his side to try and go to sleep again.

_Gah..._

But unfortunately, another scream had filled the air, and Sasuke's eyes were wide open in an instant.

~o~

The next day the raven had woken up with tired eyes to the faint sound of the door opening and closing.

At first, he'd yawned and sat up that instant, thinking Sakura had come back again to possibly bring up his breakfast for the morning and almost opening his mouth in protest to ask about the terrible noise that had managed to keep him awake for most of the previous night.

But as soon as he'd raised his head with the intention of facing the pink-haired nurse, he was surprised to see that no one was there, and all of a sudden, the room had grown deathly quiet.

In that instant, the raven's expression fell, and he'd frowned in disappointment, shuffling back over towards the back wall.

Although...that hadn't until a yellow flash had caught his eye, and he'd stiffened as soon as he'd proceeded to notice...that he was no longer alone in this room.

At that moment, he'd held his breath and quickly turned around to see that someone else other than him was there, settled in a hushed position on the other side of the glass wall:

A blonde-haired boy...with a tan complexion and ocean blue eyes—sitting silently in a pose almost similar to Sasuke's, with his feet curled up and head drooping.

Almost immediately, the Uchiha had stiffened where he was, his countenance impassive but curious at the same time.

"Hn."

~o~

He'd only seemed to be about Sasuke's age, give or take perhaps one year. But his eyes were dull with insomnia, and the shadows below them were a lot darker and more distinct than the ones the raven had, in addition to three faint scars just barely visible on either cheek.

In that instant, Sasuke swallowed and took a deep breath, keeping his gaze still on the bushy-haired blonde before him.

It was definitely strange enough that he'd reacted this much to the latter's presence, since usually he hadn't cared much about new company or anything along those lines, considering how he was originally brought up that way in a life of solitude and neglect...

But for some reason, right then and there, the boy on the other side of the glass had become an exception, for at that moment Sasuke had found himself absent-mindedly rising to his feet in spite of himself and slowly began to approach the glass wall that separated them both.

Gradually, the blonde himself had stirred, as he began to grow aware of the raven's presence and quickly raised his head up at him to gaze timidly into the other's coal-black eyes as he hesitantly started to shift over to approach him from his side of the room.

Before long, Sasuke had been sitting in front of the barrier, half-intimidated with its polished surface just merely an inch away from his ivory complexion.

Then at first, Itachi's face had slowly begun to appear on the other side of the thick glass again, just as what had happened the first time around. But the minute the young blonde had shuffled closer towards the light to reveal more of his distinct features, the image of his older brother had gradually faded away.

And after a while, the raven had soon realized from the back of his mind...that this had been the new patient he was now facing, gazing intently into his big, sapphire blue irises.

~o~

For a moment, both had remained immobile, their faces just barely touching the glass wall between them, breathing patterns light and even.

Then Sasuke had reluctantly made the first move, lowering his eyes before opening his mouth to speak to the boy in front of him.

"Can you hear me?" he'd asked in a calm, collected tone, looking straight into the other's eyes.

But there had been no response. In that instant, he'd seen the blonde raise his hand up towards his ear with an inquisitive expression on his face.

At that moment, the raven let out a sigh, taking a deep breath and raising his voice even louder.

"CAN YOU HEAR ME?" he asked again.

In response, the latter had paused for a minute before shrugging and slowly shaking his head.

_No, _the boy on the other side mouthed out.

In that instant, the Uchiha frowned and shifted his gaze, searching for a way to communicate with the blonde that hopefully wouldn't involve poor Morse code. Eventually, he'd spotted an opening between the glass wall and the ceiling and began using that to his advantage as he dug inside his pocket until he'd found what looked like two small pieces of black chalk, taking one and throwing it over the allowed space above the wall until it landed right in front of the blonde's feet.

With that, Sasuke moved closer to the glass and began to write on its surface.

_All right—can you write? _the raven had written in neat manuscript.

At that moment, the blonde chuckled and immediately picked up the chalk.

_Duh—of course I can._

In that instant, the raven raised an eyebrow when the latter had unexpectedly stuck his tongue out at him, his timid expression suddenly changing into a playful demeanour. Then he sighed and wrote again on the glass.

_Well, then...do you have a name, _dobe?

At that, the latter shrank back at the last word and briskly scribbled his next comment, pouting at him.

_The name's Naruto, _teme. _What's yours?_

_Sasuke, _the raven wrote back with a smirk, drawing a colon and 'P' beside it on the wall.

At that moment, the blonde laughed lightly and went on to beam at his newly found friend.

~o~

For the next hour, the two had done nothing but write more conversation to each other, getting to know the basics of one another in the process, much like favourite season or preferred hobbies.

And after a while, when Naruto had scribbled _Drawing _on his side of the wall, Sasuke's face had lit up at the slightest.

_You can draw? _the raven had replied, gazing curiously at the blonde before him.

In that instant, the latter had paused before pressing his chalk against the wall again and contentedly drew a chibi version of Sasuke, writing the word _Yes _next to it.

At that moment, the Uchiha couldn't help but smile as he watched a big, happy-go-lucky grin appear on the other's face, then went on to draw his own picture on the wall, glancing up at the blonde every now and then.

As soon as he'd finished, Naruto had flinched back from the glass with wide eyes as a well-drawn portrait of himself now stared back at him.

_Whoa... _the blonde had scribbled on the wall, his face still struck with awe and delight.

The raven had smirked in spite of himself.

_Where'd you learn how to draw that good?_

In that instant, Sasuke had paused briefly, then leaned over to write on the glass.

_My brother, _he'd replied.

At that moment, Naruto had nodded once and mused.

_Wow...you have a brother?_

At this, the raven's eyes had softened. _Yeah. _After that, he'd shuffled over to draw another picture on the wall, of him and Itachi holding hands in a small field of tall grass under the sun with a short arrow pointing to his older sibling.

The blonde grinned and tilted his head, his eyes now filled with curiosity.

_Huh. That's pretty amazing—he almost looks just like you, too._

In that instant, Sasuke lowered his eyes and struggled to give a small smile, attempting to mask the torn feeling he'd begun to feel again inside.

But Naruto had seen right through it and stopped smiling; a new, genuinely solemn countenance replacing his carefree demeanour that moment, as if he could somehow relate to what the raven was feeling then.

_You miss him...don't you? _the latter had carefully scribbled below the drawing.

At that moment, the Uchiha frowned, lowering his eyes even more.

_Yeah—of course I do._

Naruto winced. _Is he at home or something? With your mom and dad?_

Sasuke paused, his expression despondent.

_No._

The blonde frowned, looking puzzled by this for an instant.

_Oh. Well...where is he then? Is he far away from here?_

But then the other bit his lip and proceeded on to write the rest of his comment.

_He's dead._

At that moment, Naruto's breath had hitched as he had read those two words. Then his eyes softened as he looked up at the raven with heartfelt sympathy.

_I'm sorry._

The Uchiha closed his eyes, then sighed.

_I probably miss him more than anything in the world._

~o~

By the time the sun had begun to set, the glass wall had been filled with chalk drawings from left to right, with both children sharing their own personal life stories and trying to put themselves in each other's shoes as to why the two of them had been sent to this institution in the first place.

Sasuke had gone first that evening, explaining the incident with the car and the lake in as careful detail as possible, in addition to Itachi's death and the traumatic effect it'd had on him, including the severe, pathological fear of glass that he'd developed.

Soon after that, Naruto had nodded back in comprehension, scribbling a reply on the wall.

_That's ok—I understand how you feel, _he'd written. _I've lost someone, too._

At that moment, the raven's eyes had widened. _Really? Who did you lose?_

The blonde lowered his eyes, then bit his lip, scrawling again on the cold glass.

_My mom and dad._

Pause.

_...oh._

At this, the Uchiha's eyes had softened, while the other had proceeded to continue writing on the wall.

_Yeah—I may not have had any brothers or sisters like you...but I definitely know what it feels like to have someone you love be taken away._

Naruto frowned. _To have that person disappear before your very eyes...it hurts, because you'll always know that there'll be nobody else that can replace them enough. _He winced, clenching his teeth. _No matter how many different foster homes they decide to send you to..._

As soon as a torn expression had grown on the other's face, Sasuke couldn't help but somehow empathize with him, responding once more in neat manuscript.

_I heard you screaming last night...did they do something bad to you?_

In that instant, the blonde had flinched, then suddenly backed away from the Uchiha, eyes mortified and filled with fear.

At that moment, the raven's expression had immediately grown with concern. _Naruto...what's the matter? _

But the latter had only backed off even more, his countenance timid and afraid.

With that, Sasuke had begun to feel terrible about himself and wrote again on the wall.

_Did I say something wrong?_

There was a long pause.

After a while, the blonde had taken a deep breath, closing his eyes and slowly shaking his head.

At this, the Uchiha had winced, moving a bit closer to the wall.

And his eyes had softened soon enough when he'd begun to see wet tears fall from the latter's cheeks.

It had been a short moment before Naruto had brought himself to approach the glass once more, his hand shaking as he reluctantly scribbled the following sentence on the barrier:

_I'm afraid of closed spaces._

~o~

The raven stiffened with wide eyes. In an instant, he'd completely understood everything that was wrong at that point as he'd finally realised just how _small_...and terrifying this room obviously was to the blonde right now, and it'd made him wonder all of a sudden just what might have happened to this poor kid to be sent into the same hospital that he was recuperating in now...

At that moment, when the latter had sniffled and raised his hand to wipe away his tear-stained cheeks, Sasuke couldn't help but feel his anguish as an urge to come over there and comfort him gradually began to grow inside the very core of his heart.

After a few more seconds had passed, he'd even thought about breaking the glass—but because of the very reason why he couldn't, all he had done at that point was lower his eyes, slowly raising his hand until it was pressed up against the smooth surface of the glass, next to where he could clearly see his friend's disconsolate face.

~o~

At first, a sharp jolt had run up his spine as soon as he'd felt the cold exterior, the memory of his older brother instantaneously flashing through his mind.

But at that point, Sasuke didn't even care anymore, for he'd continued to press his palm even more firmly against the barrier.

In that instant, Naruto had immediately raised his head, and his eyes had widened as soon as he'd seen the persistent expression that had appeared on the Uchiha's pale face.

He'd gaped at the sight for a minute before briskly scribbling to him on his side of the glass.

_Sasuke—your fear..._

At that moment, Sasuke had opened his eyes, staring at the blonde intently.

_It's only really there when I don't have anybody to save me from my own sadness. _

At this, the latter's heart had softened, right before he'd finally brought his own hand up to the raven and pressed it right below where the raven had been keeping his.

And soon, the two had smiled, gazing into each other's eyes.

_Huh._

~o~

...although at some point, the blonde's grin had soon started to fade.

The moon was high in the sky when the Uchiha had written on the wall again.

_What's wrong? _he'd asked, concerned again.

In that instant, Naruto lowered his eyes, slowly taking his hand off the glass.

_It feels cold, _he'd scribbled back. _Why'd they have to separate us like this? _

Sasuke took his hand off, too, then looked away from the blonde. _I don't know._

But that hadn't been until he'd heard the sound of more writing on the wall and turned to see what the latter had written next.

_I wanna be with you._

At this, his eyes had widened tenfold. Then he winced and replied to his sentence.

_But you are with me, _he'd answered in neat manuscript. _...just that there's a glass between us._

When he'd finished, he'd noticed Naruto recoil a little, biting his lip—a tear making its way down his soft, tan cheek.

At that moment, the raven's eyes had softened, and without thinking he put his hand back on the glass to comfort his friend.

Although this time, the reaction he'd gotten from the blonde had been...too much for words to describe.

Before he'd known it, the clear glass had suddenly begun to quiver with every banging sound that the Uchiha had started to hear.

_BANG!_

_Thunk!_

_BANG!_

_Thunk!_

Immediately, Sasuke had stiffened where he was and held his breath as soon as he'd seen Naruto up on his feet, punching the thick wall with two, balled-up fists.

Tears had continued to stream down his cheeks, his face scrunched up and determined.

In that instant, the raven began to gape at the sight and quickly began to scrawl on the surface.

_Dobe, what are you doing? You'll wake up the doctors outside!_

The blonde had paused, biting his lip before scribbling back his response.

_I don't care—I can't take this anymore. I won't let them keep us apart like this._

With that, he continued to strike the glass, causing a small crack to form near the very top at the barrier.

At that moment, Sasuke's face grew mortified at the loud noise his friend was making that instant and soon noticed a light turn on in the room across from them, which made things even worse.

Immediately, the raven frantically waved his hands at Naruto, desperately telling him to stop.

_Dobe! _he'd managed to write in shaky handwriting on the wall.

But it had been too late, for in an instant a group of doctors had already rushed into the room, grabbing both of the blonde's arms and pulling him out into the hallway.

"Lemme go—SASUKE!" Naruto had screamed, wriggling under the doctors' grasp.

"Naruto!" the raven had shouted back.

_Slam._

When they had no longer been in sight, Sasuke found himself sinking to the floor, his eyes pained and forlorn.

God knows what they were going to do to his friend now.

~o~

The next few days, Naruto had not returned, and at the same time, Sasuke could not bring himself to sleep.

The shadows under his eyes had grown even darker and the deathly silent nights had become more restless for him, like something had gone missing all of a sudden.

But one evening, just before the raven was about to pass out from his insomnia, the door on the other side had opened again, and a doctor had proceeded to enter the room, a bushy-haired blonde with ocean blue eyes following along beside him.

However, the latter's expression had grown dull, and his body was now wrapped in white, the straitjacket restraining both of his arms.

Before the doctor had left to leave him alone in his area, he pointed a finger to briefly chastise him.

_Don't do that again, _the Uchiha had noticed the man mouth out.

Then he'd turned to step out into the hallway, shutting the door behind him.

_Slam._

At that moment, Sasuke raised his head to gaze longingly at Naruto beyond the glass as he sat in the corner of the room with his forehead pressed to his knees.

~o~

It had been silent between them for more than a while now, until the raven had finally brought himself to approach the glass once more, staring through its very surface with a concerned expression on his face.

_Are you okay? _he'd delicately written in big, dark letters on the wall.

No response.

After a while, the Uchiha's eyes had softened, and the blonde had shuddered slightly before raising his head to face his friend with despondent eyes and tearstained cheeks.

In that instant, the melancholic sight had indeed hit a cord in the middle of Sasuke's heart, and almost immediately, he'd bit his bottom lip, pressing his palm firmly on the cold glass.

At the same time, Naruto had winced at his friend, struggling to stand up on his feet and make his way towards the barrier before collapsing on his knees, his forehead leaning against its surface.

As another tear had run down the latter's tan cheek, Sasuke couldn't help but put both his hands on the wall by his friend, bringing his own face closer to the wall to look into his deep azure eyes.

At that moment, the blonde had stirred, gazing forlornly at his raven-haired friend.

Then the Uchiha had swallowed hard, reaching into his pocket to write another remark.

_I'm here. Cry as much as you want to._

In that instant, Naruto had held his breath, and he'd looked up at the raven once more, grinning slightly. Then he'd sniffled once and shifted forward to lean his cheek right in front of where Sasuke's hands were pressed.

~o~

But even though the two had reunited again, things still hadn't been the same—more so for Naruto, who had been pulled out of the room every few hours or so to be tested in another room or given another drug to take.

Now of course the doctors' reasons for taking all of these extra measures for the blonde had been indeed purposeful for the latter's full recovery—but because they'd continued to do this at a more frequent schedule, poor Naruto had also begun to feel unnecessary stress and exhaustion, which wasn't good considering it had made him look much worse than how he had been in the very beginning.

So they'd left him alone for a few days to think about an alternate solution to keep the blonde from passing out or undergoing a new phase in his ailment.

Sasuke took a deep breath and sighed helplessly as he watched his friend begin to suffer from the extra "treatment" he was being given. In fact, the whole time, he had stayed there with him to give him comfort each time he'd needed it or had mental breakdowns in front of him.

_I can't take this anymore, _the raven had just barely understood the blonde mouth out, clenching his teeth in dire anguish.

But all the Uchiha had done at that moment was try holding the blonde as close to him as possible with the glass barrier between them, for there had been nothing more he could do right then and there than just give him that to console him.

However, the worse had gone to worst one night when Naruto's respiratory system had begun to fail, and all the doctors had been out for the weekend, leaving the nurses behind to care for the rest of the remaining patients.

~o~

"Naruto!" Sasuke had screamed, frantically banging his fists against the glass.

At that moment, the blonde had collapsed, trembling as he started to gasp for air, almost hyperventilating in the process.

_Help me, _the latter had mouthed out, writhing on the floor in pain.

In that instant, the raven had swallowed hard, darting his eyes in different directions to search for someone—_anyone _that could possibly be there to help them.

"Help!" the Uchiha had yelled several times, continuing to strike the glass with his fist.

But there had been no one. The hallway had been no more than empty.

At that moment, Sasuke had exhaled sharply, breathing heavily as he anxiously searched for a way to save his best friend from getting hurt.

"HELP US!"

No response.

Suddenly, he'd heard a thump and whirled around to see poor Naruto desperately clawing at the wall.

And immediately, his heart had skipped a beat as soon as the memory of his older brother had flashed once more in his mind, more vivid and stronger than it had been before.

In that instant, the raven had held his breath and gasped as he fell to his knees, his eyes wide and mouth gaping as he began to lean against the glass for support.

"Itachi..." he'd panted that moment, sucking in a gulp of air, his body going stiff for a second. "No—stop..."

But before he could have another relapse, he could already see Naruto going limp and was forced onto his feet, glaring intently at the thick glass wall, the tiny crack up above still intact on its very surface.

_CRASH._

~o~

After several attempts to break the wall, the glass had shattered almost instantly when Sasuke had sprinted at full speed to tackle the exterior head on.

At the same time, he'd even thought he could see each sparkling shingle narrowly miss his face before he'd landed flat on his stomach beside Naruto on the floor.

But just seconds after that, he'd suddenly let out a cry of agony as soon as he'd begun to feel a shock of searing, excruciating pain on his right side, as if it were being pierced repeatedly by small daggers, and noticed his consciousness fading, his mind beginning to slip away.

"Na...ruto..." the raven had groaned, desperately stretching his arm out in front of him towards the blonde's body.

The moment he'd reached the latter's palm, everything had gone black, the Uchiha's last memory being nothing more than genuine warmth.

~o~

_Beep._

_Beep._

_Beep._

_Beep._

_Where am I...?_

Naruto moaned, stirring back into consciousness.

After a moment, he'd slowly opened his eyes as the machines beside him grew louder and louder and soon found himself staring at a bright light up in the ceiling above.

Immediately, the blonde's breath had hitched as he had quickly sat up in his position to find himself in one of the hospital beds in a completely different room.

"What the—" he'd started to shout.

But suddenly, he had felt a warm hand on his shoulder and turned to see one of the nurses sitting down beside him with a calming look on her face.

"It's all right, Naruto. Calm down—there's nothing to worry about," she had chuckled, her voice soothing.

In that instant, the blonde had taken a deep breath, then turned to look at her with anxious eyes.

"Where's Sasuke?" he asked finally, in a serious, even tone.

There was a long pause. "Uh..."

"What did you do to my friend?" he yelled, his voice rising with anger and worry.

"He's in the other room," another voice replied.

At that moment, Naruto had settled down and glanced over to see his personal nurse approaching him from the other side of the room.

"Miss Sakura..." the blonde had murmured as she leaned over to pat his head.

"Are you all right?" she asked in a concerned tone.

In response, the blue-eyed boy had lowered his gaze, looking away. "...is _he _all right?" he shot back, in a hoarse, wavering tone.

Sakura closed her eyes and sighed, taking her hand off the latter's head. "Would you like to see for yourself?"

In that instant, Naruto had opened his eyes to see that she was now pointing to a window on her right, where a sleeping raven could be seen just beyond the glass in the other room, unconscious in his own bed.

As the blonde had noted the bandages that now covered Sasuke's whole right side, he winced and looked away from the window, clutching the sheets in his hands as a faint, angelic voice slowly began to make its way through the very front of his mind, murmuring his name...

One that he knew for a fact had been longing to hear for so long.

"What happened?" he'd brought himself to ask in a pained, stifled tone.

At that moment, Sakura had lowered her eyes, calmly taking one of the latter's hands into hers.

"He saved your life," she'd replied softly in a tentative tone after another minute of silence.

~o~

As soon as the pink-haired nurse had finished explaining the sad details about Sasuke's condition to the young blonde, Naruto had closed his eyes, speaking to her in a hushed whisper.

Even before he'd first set foot in this hospital, he'd known well for a fact for his parents had been good friends with Nurse Sakura from the moment that he'd been born. And now that times had grown desperate, he'd ultimately taken this chance to make that and another tie last even longer by taking the bandages off his head and carefully muttered the following in her ear:

"_Please...could you do me one last favour?"_

~o~

Later that morning, Sasuke had woken up surprised to find himself back inside "the glass room," the wall in front of him that he'd sworn he'd been able to shatter before now good as new, the sunlight from the window reflecting on the glass's surface.

However, he hadn't been too thrilled to find the right side of his body wrapped up in gauze and frowned as he reached up to touch the spot on his face where his right eye should have been.

But that hadn't been until he'd heard a tap on the glass and immediately looked up to see a cloaked figure kneeling down in front of the barrier, a hood covering his face.

In that instant, the Uchiha had stiffened and carefully made his way towards the wall, recognising the smile on the latter's face.

_Thank you._

He'd paused for just a second before he took out his piece of chalk and wrote as best he could on the transparent surface between them.

_Dobe—is that you?_

"..."

There had been a long moment of silence before the figure had finally stirred, picking up a black piece of chalk to scribble under the latter's question.

_Yeah, _teme.

At that, Sasuke had held his breath, quickly scrawling another reply with his left hand on the wall.

_Are you all right? What did they do to you?_

No response.

After a while, the raven's face had grown rigid.

_Wait...why is your face covered up? _

Another long pause.

_Take off your bandages, _the blonde had written back.

In that instant, the Uchiha had inhaled deeply, reluctantly raising his arms to meticulously unwrap the gauze covering the other side of his face, until the figure had stepped away from the glass to reveal a reflection of himself staring back, the right eye he was seeing now bearing a strangely _familiar_ bright blue iris...

Only then did Sasuke finally recognise...the gift that Naruto had given to him as he slowly took off his hood to reveal the bandaged right side of his face.

_Can you see now?_

"Naruto..." he murmured softly in awe, gingerly leaning his palm against the glass with a sad expression on his face.

At that moment, the blonde had smiled, placing his hand under his as tears had begun to fall from the other's alabaster cheeks, and mouthed out those same words that Itachi had tried to say that day just before the car had finally sunk...

After all those years, the raven had finally understood.

_For you._

In that instant, Sasuke's eyes had softened as Naruto started to laugh lightly.

But before he could say anything more to him, the door on his side had opened all of a sudden, and soon he had found himself being dragged out of the room, away from his one and only best friend.

"What—wait!" he cried, struggling under the doctors' grasp, reaching desperately for the young blonde.

However, his eyes had widened immediately as the latter only continued to smile as he wrote his final comment onto the glass wall.

_See you soon._

At that moment, the raven had clenched his teeth and held his breath until the doctors had finally stopped, and he'd soon found himself being embraced in his mother's warm arms.

That had been when he had actually seen...the full extent of what Naruto had done for him.

~o~

_He's not sick, _Naruto's words had echoed through Sakura's mind as she watched her superiors carry the young raven out of the room towards the lobby where his parents were waiting eagerly.

_He just misses his family, _the blonde had finished earlier that morning after the operation was complete.

She'd winced as she'd shifted her gaze from him to the wriggling Uchiha in the doctor's arms, then closed her eyes and sighed before turning to make her way down the other end of the hallway.

~o~

As Sasuke sat in the back seat of his parents' car, looking through the window to see the hospital disappear from his very eyes, he couldn't help but frown sadly as he'd pictured the young blonde still sitting in the glass room all by himself that instant.

In that instant, he sighed softly, closing his eyes and contemplating to himself.

_Naruto... _the Uchiha thought at that moment.

_...I promise I'll never forget you._

~o~

As the seasons passed right on by, the raven's life had gradually returned back to normal after he'd resumed attending school, though he had never once stopped thinking about his best friend.

Even after twelve years later, when the National Institute of Health had finally shut down the asylum due to severe and improper treatment of patients, Sasuke had still looked for Naruto, visiting every hospital along the country's coast and checking over numerous patient records as a future _mangaka _in training.

But ultimately, after a few more months longer, the Uchiha's relentless search had been forced to come to an end, his beloved blonde nowhere to be found in any of the vicinities around town.

Although that hadn't been until one fateful night...when he'd been walking home from the train station after visiting his father abroad and passed by a local cafe, only to come across a quite _familiar _mess of sunshine-blonde hair just inside through the glass window...and stopped immediately in his tracks to see that it had indeed been his long-lost best friend.

~o~

At that moment, Sasuke had held his breath upon seeing Naruto in serene slumber, his head resting on the windowsill.

His beautiful features had not changed one bit, with the exception of the newly distinguished muscles he'd developed on his two arms. Plus, even though he'd still easily recognised his best friend on the other side of the glass...at the same time he had seemed to the Uchiha very much more mature than it had been before.

Not to mention how he'd soon been surprised to see just how the latter had continued to pursue his wonderful talent for drawing, the wide window in front of him filled with numerous painted cartoons almost popping out of the glass.

In that instant, the raven's eyes had softened as he put his hand on the window, observing each and every work the blonde had displayed passionately out on each and every corner of the clear windowpane.

Though that hadn't been until he'd come across a strangely specific one that had just so happened to be there right in front of the latter's face, and stiffened almost at once when he'd come to recognise it...

At that moment, Sasuke's breath had hitched as he reached over to put his hand on top of what he could have only identified to be a chibi version of himself as a child, both eyes coal-black and intact as they had once been before, prior to the turn of events that had happened long after...

The raven had exhaled sharply, swallowing hard and lowering his gaze as he slowly took his hand off the window to reach for his right eye...and at the same time, glanced over to see a special rag covering the latter's own, concealing the empty space inside from the sacrifice he'd willingly given for him in return...

In that instant, the Uchiha had winced, staring at Naruto with forlorn eyes at the thought of the possible difficulties he might have had from the minor setback he'd accepted after leaving the asylum.

But then he'd paused and lowered his hand from his eye, reaching into his pocket to search quietly until he'd finally found what he was looking for and slowly took out a small piece of black chalk.

With that, he glanced over to smile slightly at the blonde, then proceeded to press the chalk onto the glass and begin to write on its outside...

~o~

After a while, Naruto had finally brought himself to wake up after realising his shift might be almost over, letting out a small yawn and opening his eyes before raising his head to leave.

But almost immediately, as soon as he'd turned to glance over at the window in front of him...he immediately froze and held his breath right when he'd seen the picture he'd begun only just about half an hour ago, now finished and complete with a new addition beside his special raven...

At that point, he'd been very much surprised to see that the person that he'd drawn on the glass was now accompanied with a bushy-haired boy with a smiling face and big eyes, the two of them holding each other's hands.

In that instant, the blonde was stunned with awe and disbelief, almost falling back in his seat while staring at the distinct quality of the other with wide eyes and a gaping mouth.

_Surely _he wouldn't have been able to finish this _before_ he'd taken such a long nap...

And that was when he'd finally seen the words written above the children's heads, his voice hitching almost immediately.

_For you._

Naruto's face became rigid. Then soon he had exhaled dazedly before gradually shifting his gaze to the right side of the window, only to meet two captivating eyes, coal-black and cerulean-blue, over a pale, alabaster complexion with an amused, satisfying grin on the latter's face as he'd finished writing the following comment inches beside the bushy-haired boy...

_Draw with me? _the raven had written, in neat manuscript.

At that moment, the blonde's mouth dropped open as he gazed longingly into the other's eyes before getting up from the windowsill in an instant to run out the front door and tackled Sasuke Uchiha head-on, knocking the two of them down to the sidewalk below.

The raven had chuckled as the latter had eagerly wrapped his arms around his shoulders, burying his head deep into the middle of his chest.

At this, he'd let out a sigh, returning his best friend's welcoming embrace with his own, resting his chin on soft, golden blonde hair.

"Dobe..." the Uchiha had breathed lightly. "Is that really you?"

In that instant, Naruto took a deep breath, raising his head to beam at Sasuke, his face lit up with a carefree smile.

"_Teme..._of course it's me," he replied, pouting at the raven.

The Uchiha raised an eyebrow and tilted his head, relishing deeply in hearing for the first time, the beautiful sound of the other's voice.

"Hn."

"Come on—I said 'see you soon,' didn't I?" he laughed, lightly punching him in the arm.

In response, the Uchiha had smirked back, raising his hand to mess up the blonde's hair.

"Hey!" Naruto chuckled.

But before he could say anything more, the other had already pulled him in almost immediately to press his lips firmly against his, while he had wholeheartedly accepted, moaning softly as he'd made the kiss grow even deeper.

"Sasuke..." the blonde had exhaled.

"Naruto..."

"Mmm..."

It was only then after knowing nothing else but the sheer cold of the thick glass that had kept them both separated from one another for what may have felt like eons from a lifetime that they had truly come to finally feel the genuine, irreplaceable warmth each had longed for all those years.

~o~

**Notes from the KIT-chan~**

Reviews anyone? ^_^";

Thanks~ ;D

.::.*~Kitsune Shadow~*.::.


End file.
